September 6, 2023
Day Three: Fountains of Rome – Day’s Theme: Water
September 3, 2023
Cannoli – Eleanor, Mina, Kate
Eleanor
The day started with everyone breaking off into groups and getting breakfast before we all met up at the UWRC. Once everyone arrived at the Rome Center we began walking around the city. Our stops included Pasquino the talking statue, Piazza Navona (and its fountains), the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and finally the Spanish Steps. As today’s theme was water we saw a lot of fountains. Nowadays water is associated with power because it is a resource we are running out of. In Rome, water symbolized power because of how the fountains were designed. For example, the 4 Rivers fountain in the Piazza Navona represented papal power, as it showed off the 4 largest rivers within papal control. After the tour, everyone split up to go to lunch and to enjoy the rest of the free afternoon. On the way home, Margaryta and I ran into a fountain on a random street corner. We took a picture because it fit with the daily theme. After lunch, some people went to the Museo di Roma-Palazzo Braschi.
Fountain that Eleanor and Margaryta saw while trying to find a bus stop.
Trevi fountain
4 River fountain in the Piazza Navona
Kate
![](https://sites.uw.edu/fyprome/files/2023/09/kate1-225x300.jpg)
![](https://sites.uw.edu/fyprome/files/2023/09/kate2-300x225.jpg)
Mina
The day started off with listening to the flow of the Four Rivers Fountain on a bench across from it while we enjoyed our breakfast from our go-to cafe, Vero. When we met at the Rome Center after our calming breakfast we began sightseeing and the day began gaining the momentum of a river. Through presentations on the Four Rivers Fountain and Bernini’s Elephant we learned that obelisks and hieroglyphs are occasionally integrated into Roman architecture. I hadn’t expected to learn so much about Roman and Egyptian relationships on this trip but it really was a core part of Roman history.
The day was flowing quite fast at this point and before I knew it we were getting Gelato and it was turning into pools of liquid dripping down our hands in just minutes after leaving the Gelateria. The Trevi Fountain was our next stop where we spent some time looking for a water fountain to rinse our gelato covered hands in and fill up our water bottles. With such a big crowd we couldn’t see a fountain so I ended up buying an overpriced water bottle that I found out I was charged even more than my peers for. The sight seeing wrapped up with the Spanish Steps and learning about how common floods there and in other areas of Rome were.
When I got back to the dorms the day’s paces had finally slowed down from the rapids. I decided to journal. Journaling on this trip has been a very therapeutic experience I decided to end my day with.